This manuscript provides the first report of a fully additively manufactured (AM) electrochemical cell printed all-in-one, where all the electrodes and cell are printed as one, requiring no postassembly or external electrodes. The three-electrode cell is printed using a standard non-conductive poly(lactic acid) (PLA)-based filament for the body and commercially available conductive carbon black/PLA (CB/ PLA, ProtoPasta) for the three electrodes (working, counter, and reference; WE, CE, and RE, respectively). The electrochemical performance of the cell is evaluated first against the well-known nearideal outer-sphere redox probe hexaamineruthenium(III) chloride (RuHex), showing that the cell performs well using an AM electrode as the pseudo-RE. Electrochemical activation of the WE via chronoamperometry and NaOH provides enhanced electrochemical performances toward outer-sphere probes and for electroanalytical performance. It is shown that this activation can be completed using either an external commercial Ag|AgCl RE or through simply using the internal AM CB/PLA pseudo-RE and CE. This all-inone electrochemical cell (AIOEC) was applied toward the well-known detection of ascorbic acid (AA) and acetaminophen (ACOP), achieving linear trends with limits of detection (LODs) of 13.6 ± 1.9 and 4.5 ± 0.9 μM, respectively. The determination of AA and ACOP in real samples from over-the-counter effervescent tablets was explored, and when analyzed individually, recoveries of 102.9 and 100.6% were achieved against UV−vis standards, respectively. Simultaneous detection of both targets was also achieved through detection in the same sample exhibiting 149.75 and 81.35% recoveries for AA and ACOP, respectively. These values differing from the originals are likely due to electrode fouling due to the AA oxidation being a surface-controlled process. The cell design produced herein is easily tunable toward different sample volumes or container shapes for various applications among aqueous electroanalytical sensing; however, it is a simple example of the capabilities of this manufacturing method. This work illustrates the next step in research synergising AM and electrochemistry, producing operational electrochemical sensing platforms in a single print, with no assembly and no requirements for exterior or commercial electrodes. Due to the flexibility, low-waste, and rapid prototyping of AM, there is scope for this work to be able to span and impact a plethora of research areas.
Screen-printed electrodes (SPEs) are ubiquitous within the field of electrochemistry and are commonplace within the arsenal of electrochemists. Their popularity stems from their reproducibility, versatility, and extremely lowcost production, allowing their utilization as single-shot electrodes and thus removing the need for tedious electrode pretreatments. Many SPE studies have explored changing the working electrode composition and/or size to benefit the researcher's specific applications. In this paper, we explore a critical parameter of SPEs that is often overlooked; namely, we explore changing the length of the SPE connections. We provide evidence of resistance changes through altering the connection length to the working electrode through theoretical calculations, multimeter measurements, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). We demonstrate that changing the physical length of SPE connections gives rise to more accurate heterogeneous electrode kinetics, which cannot be overcome simply through IR compensation. Significant improvements are observed when utilized as the basis of electrochemical sensing platforms for sodium nitrite, β-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), and lead (II). This work has a significant impact upon the field of SPEs and highlights the need for researchers to characterize and define their specific electrode performance. Without such fundamental characterization as the length and resistance of the SPE used, direct comparisons between two different systems for similar applications are obsolete. We therefore suggest that, when using SPEs in the future, experimentalists report the length of the working electrode connection alongside the measured resistance (multimeter or EIS) to facilitate this standardization across the field.
day life. However, managing the endof-life of plastic materials has become an increasingly urgent topic due to the reliance of most virgin plastics production on non-renewable resources like oil, and the significant, harmful effects that environmentally persistent waste plastic can have on the natural world. [1] Limiting these effects requires consumption of virgin plastic to be reduced wherever possible, and where not possible, plastic waste should be recycled into new products such that it does not enter traditional waste streams (e.g., by being sent to landfill). With regards to plastics recycling, the ideal situation is one in which innovation facilitates "upcycling" of plastic waste into products that retain high value and longevity, such that the material flow from raw material to waste product is slowed significantly. [2] Seeking upcycling in this way can be especially effective when incorporated into Circular Economy (CE) practices; [2] while the precise definition of CE has not been formalized, in broad terms, it is a new economic model intended to cause a sea change in the way society approaches sustainable development. [3] Additive Manufacturing (AM), otherwise known as 3D
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